Rudiger Lautmann

Rüdiger Lautmann speaking at the SPDQueer Berlin conference, 2015

Rüdiger Lautmann (born 22 December 1935) is a German professor of sociology and one of the most prominent LGBT scholars in Germany. He was professor in sociology at University of Bremen from 1971, retiring in 2001.

Lautmann is a gay man who conducted early LGBT research. His most sensitive work has become Die Lust am Kind (1994). Translated in-full as The Lust for Children: A Portrait of Pedophiles, Lautmann interviewed a community sample of 60 self-identified pedophiles about their attractions, life and sexual history. His introduction "distinguishes three types [...]:

• The real pedophile is generally interested in contact with children, including a sexual aspect;
• the substitute-object offender uses a child as a substitution for a blocked contact with adults; and
• the aggressive-sadistic offender uses violence because of his pathology.

In this book, I exclusively present the first type, in my estimation five percent of the pedosexually active men."

The full English translated text, as well as highlights and quotes, can be found on IPCE. The book has since become controversial because pedophilia is described (similar to other researchers) as a sexual orientation, and asserts that young people are capable of sexual autonomy and mutually willing sexual consent.

Following the book’s release, Lautmann reportedly spoke at an event hosted by the ostensibly MAP friendly organization, Specialist and Support Group for Pedophilia (Fach Und Selbsthilfegruppe Paedophilie). In 1995, Lautmann wrote an article for Pro Familia, a leading NGO which provides resources on sexual health, arguing that pedophilia is a sexual orientation rather than a mental illness.

Lautmann has been pilloried for his allegedly close relationship with sexologist Helmut Kentler, who conducted an experiment where young people were paired with foster parents known to experience pedophilic attraction. In 2008, Lautmann wrote Kentler’s obituary for the Humanist Union (HU), of which he was then a board member. Lautmann was also a member of the lobbying organization Humane Sexuality Working Group (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Humane Sexualität, AHS), a research project which argued that “pedosexual contacts” could be consensual, and wrote in the group's magazine. In 2022, Lautmann was attacked in English-language media for being part of an educational board overseeing the construction of a cross-generational LGBT living complex in Germany, which caters for old and young with retirement living, restaurants and daycare facilities. The (mostly) sensationalist piece describes the complex:

"Earlier this year, Berlin’s Gay Counseling Services (Berliner Schwulenberatung), an LGBT rights group which has been serving the gay community for 40 years, announced it would be launching a “diverse” living space in Berlin’s Südkreuz area in 2023.

Roughly translated to the “Diverse Living Place,” the complex will host 69 apartments, a dedicated geriatric facility, a restaurant, and more — all of which will aim to provide “multigenerational housing for homosexual, bisexual, transsexual and intersex (LGBTI*)” people. The stated goal of the initiative is to create a space where residents can live “without fear of exclusion due to sexual or gender identity."

In addition to living quarters and common areas, the Place will also have two daycare centers to accommodate approximately 90 children in total. The daycare facilities will have a specialized focus on LGBT education."

According to Prof. Florian Mildenberger, earlier attacks on Lautmann's research arsing largely from the anti-MAP self-proclaimed feminist campaigner Alice Schwarzer, had a chilling effect on similar research: "from this point on, even a nonprejudiced discussion of pedophilia was considered ethically questionable in the German academic landscape." (p. 78).